Standing Firm

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

STANDING FIRM

Luke 21:12-19

12 "But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. 13 This will result in your being witnesses to them. 14 But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. 15 For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 All men will hate you because of me. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By standing firm you will gain life.

NIV

Jesus had just said the temple would be destroyed, people would come claiming to be him, that the time was near, that they would hear of wars and revolutions, nations would rise up against nations, kingdoms against kingdoms, there would be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places. He also told them there would be fearful events and great signs from heaven. He told them all these things must happen first but that the end will not come right away. Now he says that before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. We know from history most of the disciples were persecuted and in fact killed for their faith in Christ. All what Jesus had told them came true in their lives. Thus when he told them that by standing firm they would gain life, we know he meant life eternal. When he told them that not a hair on their head would perish it was of great significance. Although we could spend hours exploring all the prophetic words Jesus said about what must happen before the end will happen it would not serve us as well as the words of encouragement he gives them. Men have for all the ages after Christ looked into those words about what must happen and they have seen many of them happen and those things have happened throughout the ages since Christ, except for one thing, the fearful events and great signs from heaven.  These things will continue to happen, but the end will not come yet. So let us not focus on these things, but on the fact that no matter what happens in the earth and for that matter what man might do to us physically, mentally or emotionally, that if we stand firm, not a hair on our heads will perish and we will gain eternal life. What this means is that our bodies will not perish, there will be a resurrection of our body and it will be perfectly intact in the life to come. It also means for those who refuse to accept Jesus their bodies will experience perishing. This certainly agrees with all the other text about the day of the Lord. It agrees with the fact that whosoever calls on the name of the Lord will not perish but have eternal life. With so many who pay so close attention to all the external signs and wonders that need to happen before the end will come, it behooves us to pay attention to the internal things of our life. Standing firm in our faith even under the persecution of others. Yes, we here in this country may not have experienced the type of persecution Christians have and are experiencing in other parts of the world, yet the word tells us that when one suffers we all suffer. But at the same time those who oppose God would have him and any signs of him removed from the public square. More recently one pastor has been arrested and jailed for refusing to marry a gay couple, which is now the law of our land. That is persecution at the hands of our government. There will be times when we will experience more persecution. The point is we cannot allow the world and its hatred toward God to silence our voice. Standing firm means more than hiding in our churches or homes clinging to each other for support. Standing firm means facing the world head on, voicing the truth, eliminating dark places with the light. We need not to be concerned as to how we should speak, as Jesus promised he would give us the words. This confirms the fact we are to speak, we are to voice our faith before men, before those who oppose God and may endeavor to attack us in numerous ways. We cannot allow the world to silence us, we need to stand firm.